A group committed to making the borough's roads safer is urging drivers to take lessons to develop their motoring skills.

Bury and Rochdale Advanced Motorists (BRAM) run year-round courses with the aim of making the areas' roads less dangerous.

One of more than 200 groups across the country, BRAM is an independent charity which works in affiliation with IAM RoadSmart.

They offer courses for car drivers and motorcyclists in order to help them learn extra driving skills to make sure they can keep themselves and other road users safe.

BRAM chairman Mike Gillett said that the aim of the group is to make people think twice about taking risks when driving or riding and to help them take in and use information while driving.

He said: “We offer courses regardless of who you are and what the weather conditions are because it’s important that people are confident in dealing with whatever circumstances you find when driving.

“The point is to make you think about what you’re doing.

"The course goes through various modules, we get a lot of people who have never been on motorways and we teach people how to go through these manoeuvres correctly and how to remain safe.”

According to road safety charity Brake, more than 1,500 young drivers are killed or seriously injured on UK roads every year.

Mike encourages younger drivers to take the course and pointed out that they will even receive benefits such as lower insurance costs.

However, he said this is “a benefit not a reason” and that the key purpose of the course is to “make people safer drivers".

Mike added that most road problems and accidents are avoidable and they hope to make people think before taking risks.

The group meets every Sunday at McDonald's in Pilsworth, where members recently donated a defibrillator after a member of the public experienced a medical episode while they were having one of their weekly meetings.